Are There Too Many Events In The Calendar?

It depends who you ask. This time 10 years ago, there were only 6 ranking events and a very small handful of non-ranking invitational tournaments. Now, in the 2019/20 season there are 19 ranking events and a multitude of non-ranking, variant and senior tournaments. Surely that’s a great thing, right?

Before Barry Hearn took over the reins of World Snooker, it was a very difficult sport to prosper in, even for those at the top. There were weeks between tournaments and players in the Top 64 couldn’t sustain a living as a professional. Imagine being one of the Top 50 or 100 players in the world of a particular sport and not being able to even maintain a living by participating in the activity.

Effectively, those outside the Top 16 (and particularly the Top 64) were having a difficult time. This was only worsened by the few events held in a year and the significant periods of time between each tournament. Fewer events meant fewer opportunities for players to earn money which often led to high level players having to work outside of Snooker in the considerable periods of time between events.

Fast forward to recent years where tournaments are now back-to-back and most take place immediately after one another, the inverse problem seems to have risen. Players complain that there are too many events and there isn’t enough rest time between events for players to recuperate, particularly those that venture deep into a given tournament. I mean, who can remember Mark Allen coming runner up in last year’s UK and then the very next day travelling to Scotland and spending the next week winning the Scottish Open. What an accomplishment.

The increase in the number of tournaments has allowed for flexibility in which players to decide which tournaments they want to compete in. It’s rare that you find players that will compete in every single tournament in a season. But the main concern comes from the fact that because there are so many ranking events, players (especially towards the top) feel they need to compete in all of them in order to remain high in the rankings.

So, are there too many events in the calendar? From the view of an amateur or someone low in the rankings: probably not. There is plenty of opportunity to earn money as well as tremendously improve their game by coming up against the top. From the perspective of the top: maybe. Every player’s views are different. O’Sullivan will have a different view to David Gilbert.

However, I do think there should be a better scheduling of events based on location. A large tiring factor comes from travelling between venues. If frequent back-and-forth travel can be minimised, this will help with fatigue and coping with the increasing number of tournaments. Many have already suggested, but holding all China and India tournaments at a particular time in the year to limit long distance travel, considering most players are UK and Europe based. But obviously, spending a month or two in China will be difficult for those players with family commitments.

So, what do you think is the best compromise? Should a few China and Europe based tournaments be held together but spread throughout the season? Could this save on players travelling thousands of miles for a single tournament? Should there be a week buffer period between each event?

What is Snookers One-Year Ranking and Provisional Seedings List? (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of the Short which explained the One-Year ranking list in snooker and how it is used for certain events. Click here to read that. This post will now look at the Provisional Seedings list and how this is observed in the context of snooker rankings.

Provisional Seedings are basically updates to the world rankings list which is used to determine the seeding positions for future events. This aids event organisers in scheduling matches for specific tournaments. They are also used to predict changes in the rankings and give an up-to-date representation of the current standings.

The official world ranking list is updated after each event however, instead of sticking to a ranking list at a fixed point in time, provisional seedings are updated and used throughout the year. Imagine stockbrokers at Wall Street staring at the prices changing at the end of a quarter. Yeah, it’s the same. This is particularly useful/daunting for those who hover around positions 8 and 16 for specific events – mainly as the Top 16 automatically qualify for the WSC.

With the exception of the Coral Cup and Masters, most other events in the calendar have a ‘cut-off’ point for which their ranking points will be included up to this point to determine ranking positions or seedings for that event. There are seeding cut-off points spread throughout the season so that seedings are as up-to-date as they can be.

For example (at the time of writing), once the China Championship has ended the rankings will be updated to reflect those who have competed. This new ranking list will be used to determine who the seeds are going into the next tournament: the English Open. Similarly, after the Northern Ireland Open is the cut-off for the UK Championship and Scottish Open. The provisional ranking positions can be calculated to determine the seeds for the UK and Scottish Open. Consequently, the performances in the UK Championship will not affect the positioning of the following Home Nation event.

Provisional seedings are observed before and during tournaments by taking into account the minimum a player will be taking as prize money based on the tournament at that current point in time. For example, we are currently in the Last-64 of the China Championship where each player in this round will be taking home at least £4750. This is pretty much a fact so we can add this to all competing players rankings. At the same time, since the rolling system is used where the previous 2 years are accounted for, we can deduct whatever earnings the player gained from this same event 2 years ago (World Open 2017) as it’s no longer applicable to their ranking total.

This gives an idea with reasonable accuracy as to what the standings will look like going forward to the next event. This provisional ranking is updated as the tournament progresses. So, if a player makes it to the QF of the China Championship, we can easily change that £4750 that was added before to £20000.

When Ding Junhui was eliminated from the China Championship, we saw him lose £150,000 worth of ranking points (from World Open 2017) which was replaced with £4750 based on his performance in this year’s China Championship. Due to his first round exit, we were able to look at provisional seedings and see that this would take him out of the Top-16 and view which players are likely to take his position.

In the case of the Masters, it uses the same 2 year rolling ranking method (up to the UK Championship) to determine who qualifies but at the start of a season, we can look at who are in the best spots to make the Triple Crown. For the 2020 Masters, we know those who qualify will be based on ranking points accumulated from the UK Championship 2017-19. If we were at July 2019 – the start of the season – we could take the ranking list and just subtract any of the points earned before UKC 2017 (i.e. July 2017-Nov. 2017) as they are irrelevant, and look at who is in the driving seat.

Hopefully, this makes some kind of sense when it comes to understanding the Provisional Seedings list. It’s easy to think of it as similar to the official world rankings but updating them as each tournament and match goes on to observe potential future changes in the ranking list. And by being able to look at these changes will allow you to see who will be able to qualify for certain events.

Helpful links:

2019/20 Calendar: http://www.worldsnooker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Calendar_2019_20_v15.01.pdf

Provisional Rankings: http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=35

WPBSA Ranking FAQ: http://www.wpbsa.com/rankings/rankings-faq/

China Championship Final 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

It was a match that seemed to be going one way, particularly during the evening session but then it turned into a real slobber knocker including a comeback, decider, flukes and the breaking of a long title absence for one of the two players involved. Let’s go through Murphy vs. Williams in the China Championship, shall we?

The first session wasn’t too notable in the general sense, so I’ll summarise. Murphy took Frames 1 and 2 in a couple of scrappy openers but the favour was returned by Williams taking the next two frames with breaks over 70 going into the midsession. It was then a constant back-and-forth between the players until the end of the afternoon session where Murphy was able to take a slim lead of 5-4. The opening session contained 2 of the 4 centuries in the match; one from each player. A wonderfully constructed 143 from Williams in Frame 7 and 133 from Murphy in the final frame of the session.

The evening session was where things dialled up. Frame 10 saw Murphy in with a chance first but an unfortunate kiss off the pink limited his contributions that frame. Williams developed a 54-15 to which Murphy made a valiant effort to clear the table up to the black, with 4 reds remaining. This break included some terrific pots, so well worth watching if you haven’t. It even saw a double-turned-triple from Murphy at the end but the karma was reciprocated with a tricky cut-back on the final black being Murphy’s demise.

Frames 11 and 12 went to Murphy with his breaks of 75 and 76 respectively. It was a shame for Williams since in Frame 12 he laid a brilliant safety shot against the cushion which would give any player significant trouble – but this was potted with authority by Murphy. Williams saw action first in Frames 13 and 14 but in each of these frames he was unsuccessful on his split attempts, giving Murphy the opportunity to make 103 and 79. Murphy has now taken 4 frames in succession, and the score line was now 9-5.

What I liked about the frame immediately after this was that Williams didn’t shy away from the fact that he was 9-5 down. He took on a risky opening pot in Frame 15, sunk it, made a break of 73 and completely shut Murphy out of the frame. All he did was break off.

Frame 16 commenced with a lengthy deliberation before any points were scored and this was also the frame where you probably saw the clips/highlights involving a major re-spot. Williams was glued in front of the green with the blue in the way of his original line which led to a mass scatter on top of a foul. Credit to Peggy Lee for handling the situation well and professionally.

A few more fouls conceded by Williams saw an erratic ‘just smack it’ kind of shot, which oddly enough ended up in a reasonable position. Funnily enough, Williams’s safety was far better after this shot. This led to a break of 43 and Williams getting some of those foul points back later in the frame. Murphy was unable to capitalise this frame and Williams was within two (9-7). That was just Frame 16.

Frame 17 was another lengthy frame similar to before which saw another ‘hit-and-hope’ type of shot from Williams. This sparked a ‘woah’ moment from the crowd. From 49-28 down, Williams sunk a wonderful long pot to get himself 50-49 up. He then laid a good snooker to take the frame. This was followed by the last century of the match – a 132 from Williams initiated via a gorgeous double into right centre. The score was 9-9.

Murphy, at this point, shocked that he’s even in a decider was able to hold his nerve at the right time to construct a break of 69. He couldn’t continue his break from where he was but potting the subsequent green put him 69 ahead with 67 remaining. Williams made a solid effort with a break of 30 and one red remaining but a loose snooker attempt enabled Murphy to see the match off by thumping in the final red.

This victory for Murphy sees his first title victory since the Champion of Champions in 2017. It was his third consecutive final this season, falling short at the International and at Shanghai, but sees him now rise to the top of the One-Year rankings. He is pretty much guaranteed qualification for the Coral Cup, especially if this form continues.

The China Championship win may be the catalyst in opening the floodgates for Murphy. In the Shanghai Masters final, I predicted that we would be seeing more of Murphy in finals this season, and he went and did that in his very next event. Murphy’s career centuries are now at 499 and he has proved to be quite the credible threat going into Triple Crowns this season.

As for Williams, he’s just being himself when it comes to his approach to competition but this run will give him the confidence to continue to make ranking finals. Before this, his last win was at the World Open last year. Besides that, he didn’t make it past the quarter-final until this tournament (not including Six-Reds).

Much like Robertson, Trump and O’Sullivan were the stars of last season, Shaun Murphy may be one for this season. I know it’s still very early to say, but if things keep going the way they are for him, and he can hold his nerve a little better going into later tournaments, he will have a place on Mount Rushmore for the 2019/20 season.

Joe Perry vs. Judd Trump China Championship 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

Judd Trump is in that bubble at the moment where he is expected to crush every tournament that he competes in. This makes it surprising when this precisely does not happen. Joe Perry was the unfortunate player to draw the World Champion in the Last 16 of the China Championship – so let’s look at what happened.

Perry didn’t open the match with the best break-off shot; allowing Trump to sink a long pot but unexpectedly missed the next black off the spot. Perry wasn’t able to capitalise in his subsequent visit but following a series of safety exchanges, Perry was able to take the first frame with a break of 89.

Frames 2 and 3 were Trump’s only contribution to the scoreboard. Frame 2 was one which should have gone to Perry but missed a black while on a break of 59. The reds were out in the open which enabled Trump to clear and steal the frame with a break of 60. This frame was followed by a 102 from Trump in Frame 3. Seems like business as usual for Trump, right?

The fourth frame was one of the most interesting in the match. A solid opener from Perry led to a break of 43 but, as seems to be the pattern with this match, a missed black while trying to carefully separate the pack was his downfall. This frame provided multiple opportunities for Trump to get in and at least accumulate some points but he didn’t seem to get any rhythm despite winning the two previous frames. After a lengthy safety exchange, Trump went in-off and Perry potted enough balls for Trump to concede.

A break of 92 favoured Perry in Frame 5. A somewhat audacious plant attempt in the next frame from Trump went in-off and reds were left all over the table. Perry was able to build a 66 point lead with 5 reds left on the table. There was an attempt to steal from Trump but missing the first black led to concession.

The final frame of the match didn’t do Trump any favours either. After a good split off the blue, he went in-off on the next red. One good opening shot and kiss off the blue later led to a break of 36 from Perry. At 14-46, there was a safety battle between the competitors, which led to Trump’s cue ball making contact with the object ball on the way up the table in one of his safeties. This was the opening Perry needed to take frame and match which of course, he did.

There’s not much to say about why Trump lost this bout but it looks like it was just a bad day which wasn’t helped by the unfortunate kisses and in-offs he suffered during the match. Furthermore, his long potting wasn’t where it normally is either. Some of his long pots were close, but the majority of them were missed considerably by someone of his standards.

Even some of his short distance pots were uncharacteristically missed. Unfortunately, in this match Perry was just missing less. After Trump’s two frames, he just couldn’t get into the match like he normally would. Despite this, something that was displayed is that Trump is probably the best off-the-cushion player in the game. There were many shots off-the-rail during the match which Trump played wonderfully and like no other.

This departure won’t raise any concerns for Trump or his fans. He is still the best player in the world currently and this will be supported by all others on the tour at the moment. It would perhaps be a little more worrying if he didn’t win the International Championship but as it stands, he is still atop the peak of the mountain and steams ahead in the rankings.

Their last encounter was a 6-2 victory for Trump in the International Championship back in August. This win from Perry brought Trump’s 15 ranking game win streak to an end. Joe Perry shows once again that he can scrap with the best of them. Even though he subsequently lost his quarter-final match against an impressive Hossein Vafaei, Perry will take a lot of confidence from his performance in the Last 16.